


ice and glass

by kurgaya



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Character Study, Don't copy to another site, Drabble, Episode Tag, Gen, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:15:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27232606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurgaya/pseuds/kurgaya
Summary: [Episode Tag & Spoilers for 2x113: A Heart Grown Cold]The necklace is cold around Fjord’s neck, and strange. He feels safer. His friends are safer. If only they can hurry and leave this ocean, and then they might be free from the Eye.“I don’t think it’s wise to keep you from the sea,” Caduceus says. “I think this is an acceptable compromise.”
Relationships: Fjord & The Mighty Nein
Comments: 14
Kudos: 45





	ice and glass

**Author's Note:**

> Dipping my toes into this fandom for the first time with a short episode tag ✌️

The deck of the Midnight Hammer is just as cold as the water it sails. Fjord heaves himself over the railing and into the carnage of the fight. The fog he called upon the ship has cleared, revealing the blood-frost splattered across the deck. Monstrous bodies lay in monstrous pieces, and the crew prod them with blades and boots, inspecting the remains. They’re a brave crew, and hardy, but undead pirates and lobster-creatures probably aren’t their typical sightings, even out here in the Frigid Depths. One of the crewmen regards a dismembered claw with a queasy look. Beau jabs another with her silver quarterstaff and laughs.

Fjord climbs the stairs to the stern. The mage met his end in the teeth of a T-rex, and his corpse is chewed beyond recognition. Fjord retrieves the divining crystal from all that’s left. It’s a little thing, the crystal, about the size and colour of a stick of ginger. One end is sharp and all of it is dangerous, and Fjord rolls it about his palm, considering. It brought a lot of trouble to their day, this little thing. He should toss it into the Depths and be rid of it; let it freeze beneath the waves.

He should have done the same with the Cloven Crystal. (He should have done the same with himself).

“Just so we’re clear,” Yasha is saying as Fjord re-joins the Mighty Nein on the deck. “That was definitely Avantika?"

Most people would never ask that question. Most people expect the dead to stay dead. The Mighty Nein are not _most people_ , and Yasha knows that better than them all.

“Yes, she was quite undead,” Caduceus chimes, pouring out tea. It’s a good idea. They’re all dripping wet and all kinds of exhausted, and Captain Liard seems to age ten years just by looking at them. It’s an odd feat for an elf, visibly aging through weariness alone, so his dwarven heritage must be to blame. Caduceus offers him some tea.

“Has she been _un_ -undeaded now?” Veth asks, peeping up at Fjord. It’s hard to say if her fever is a result of her goblin days, or if there was always something feral about her. Her pointed ears still twitch like they used to. Her eyes are smaller but just as demanding. “Right, Fjord? You killed her? _Killed her_ killed her, this time?”

Avantika is adrift in the sea in pieces. The Star Razor had burned her from the inside, glowing a wondrous white. The ocean under the ice had been cold and dark, and so had Avantika, and so had Fjord as he sliced her in two. She had still been beautiful, in a twisted way. Her hair had twirled like seaweed, and her eyes had Uk’otoa’s glow. Even after all this time, those eyes had watched him through the gloom.

Now, there’s only one Eye left, and Fjord feels its weight not on his person, but in the back of his mind.

“I hope so,” he says, doused in ice water and chilled by fear.

“God, _same_ ,” Beau adds, as eloquent as ever. She squats in the loose circle the Nein are forming on the deck, huddling around Caduceus and his tea. Her face scrunches in angry thought as she considers the group, and then she scowls at Fjord. “How d’they keep finding us?”

Fjord presents the divining crystal.

“I could take a look at that, _ja_?” Caleb says, magic spinning at his fingertips. He hunkers down to inspect Avantika’s rapier and dagger, too, and the Nein drink their tea while he works, all thinking the same questions but no-one saying a word.

It’s admirable restraint, on their part. The ice must be slowing their brains. Beau’s usually the first to butt-in with the tough questions, with Jester not far behind. Jester’s face is round from holding her tongue. Her tail swishes impatiently, and little jewels tinkle from her horns. Fjord’s not sure what’s keeping her silent - or any of them silent - but he feels the awkwardness as heavy as the Eye.

“Guess I fucked up, huh?” he says. The resounding _NO!_ from the Nein nearly knocks him from his feet. Beau’s quarterstaff does as she whacks him behind the knees.

“We’ve dealt with this before, haven’t we? We’ll do it again. We can’t _not_ go to Eiselcross so it’s not exactly like this is something we could’ve avoided.”

“And we’re god-killers now!” Jester rallies. “Or banishers! Or whatever! Avocado didn’t scare us and he was, like, a god-crab!”

“I don’t think -” Fjord tries, but Veth cries, “YEAH! What’s Uk’otoa got on a _crab_?”

“More teeth, I would say,” Caduceus reasons. “Do crustaceans have teeth?”

“If they don’t, then they _should_ ,” says Beau, her expression of childish glee. “‘Cause then I could _punch_ them out.”

A drop of sweat rolls down Fjord’s cheek. It could be blood. By the time it reaches his chin, it’s ice, and he scrubs a hand over his face with a sigh. The Nein are beyond rhyme and reason. He hides a weary smile behind his hand.

“Ah, I have finished,” Caleb interjects. The group hushes to hear him - except for Yasha, who is only ever quiet. He wrings his hands together and presents the objects one-by-one - first, the rapier, then the dagger and crystal. “This - is a sword. There is, ah, nothing special about it. This dagger can be very mean and I think we should hold onto it for now. And the divining crystal, I think - at least, I am mostly sure, Fjord, but - I think this was targeting the Eye we now have back in our possession, and not you, Fjord. I think it would be wise to keep the Eye in the Bag of Holding for a while, at least, until we figure out what to do with it. In the long-term."

"We could try and smash it," Beau says, because of course she does. Fjord doubts it will work and it doesn't, but he's grateful to Yasha for trying.

“I take it we can’t put it back into your necklace?” Veth asks, and Caleb shakes his head.

Fjord winces as he remembers the necklace shattering across the deck. It must be in a million pieces, now, doused on the ice-breaker like specks of flame. The books and fireworks it once held are strewn across the ship. Fjord doesn’t care about the fireworks, but he hopes they didn’t lose any of the books to the waves. It will be his fault if they did, no matter what the Nein insist.

The moment Fjord steps on the seas, everything they hold dear is in danger. The seas belong to Uk’otoa and not even the Wildmother can change that.

Caleb reaches into his pocket. “While we are on the topic of necklaces - Fjord. I think you should have this.”

His amulet. He holds it out as he had held it to Vokodo, and he may as well have punched Fjord in the gut.

“No,” Fjord wheezes. He is not the only one. “Caleb - _no_. That protects you from -”

“I’ve not been wearing it. The Assembly, they - they know I’m with you all now, no? They know where to find me. I think I am past hiding now. But this could be useful for you. You should have it.”

“But -”

Caleb throws the amulet over and Fjord catches it without thinking. In his hands, it is small and wet from their dip in the sea. It seems such a measly thing, and yet it kept Caleb hidden for many years. Caleb has depended on it, and guarded it closely. That he would give it away, not once but twice now, is testament to his bravery and the strength of the Nein. They can and will protect Caleb from Ikithon - but a god is another matter. That Caleb is giving the amulet to Fjord is testament to Uk’otoa’s will.

“Caleb’s got a good point, you know,” Jester says.

“Of course he does,” says Veth. “He’s _Caleb_. He knows what it’s like to be squishy.”

The tips of Caleb’s ears burn as bright as his hair. “Ah, well I -”

“Fjord is also squishy,” Yasha says, nodding seriously.

Fjord slips the necklace on. The conversation reminds him of that frostbitten morning at the Burning Lodge, where snow and fire met and he cast away his falchion. He had thought himself rid of Uk’otoa then, as he was rid of his power. Neither of those things were true. Caleb and Jester had offered him weapons, and Caduceus saw fit to hand him a shield. The Nein had protected him, just as they are protecting him now.

The necklace is cold around Fjord’s neck, and strange. He feels safer. His _friends_ are safer. If only they can hurry and leave this ocean, and then they might be free from the Eye.

“I don’t think it’s wise to keep you from the sea,” Caduceus says, far too insightful for his own good. He smiles, pink with happiness and pink with life, and tops up Fjord’s tea. “I think this is an acceptable compromise.”

“Thank you,” Fjord says, his voice thick. “I -”

“Just warn us next time you do that mist thing, okay?” Beau interrupts. She wiggles her fingers as though the motion looks anything like mist. “Weather-changing spells are definitely something we have to prepare for, you know. Especially the non-magic-y ones of us.”

“That’s just you, Beau,” Jester says a matter-of-fact. “Even Yasha can heal people with her hands.”

“That’s true,” says Yasha. Her mouth quirks upwards. “I thought the mist was very useful.”

Beau sputters.

“Err, thanks,” Fjord says, and he rubs the back of his neck with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! All comments appreciated 😄


End file.
